The City of Oakland has sued the Oakland Raiders, the National Football League and its remaining 31 teams, claiming that they’ve conspired to “boycott” the city in favor of moving to Las Vegas in violation of the antitrust laws and in breach of the league’s own relocation policies.
According to the lawsuit, filed by attorneys in the City Attorney’s office, Berg & Androphy and Pearson, Simon & Warshaw, the $378 million “relocation fee” that the Raiders paid acted as “supra-competitive cartel payments” to the league’s other team owners. The lawsuit claims that the league and its teams ignored their own policy of making relocation decisions based on each club’s obligation to “advance the interest of the League in its home territory.”
